How to check a hotel room for bed bugs
A free 60-second inspection you can run from your phone the moment you walk in. Most rooms are fine — this makes sure before your suitcase touches the bed.
Run the 60-second check
A calm, step-by-step look at the spots bed bugs actually hide.
Keep your suitcase zipped on the rack or in the bathtub until you're done.
Take this with you
Get the checklist on your phone for the next hotel — no app, just a link.
We'll send the checklist and nothing else.
A two-minute habit beats a six-month problem
Bed bugs don't care how clean or expensive a hotel is — they travel in luggage and spread room to room, so any property can have them. You can't tell from the lobby or the smell of the sheets. The only reliable defense is a quick look in the few places they actually hide, done before your suitcase ever touches the bed.
The check above walks you through those spots in order. Most rooms come back clean. The point isn't to make you anxious — it's to replace that low-level travel dread with 60 seconds of certainty, and to stop a single hitchhiker from turning into an infestation back home.
What bed bug evidence actually looks like
You rarely see a live bug first. More often it's the traces they leave behind. Here's what to match against — and what's commonly mistaken for them.
Rather stay somewhere already checked?
Find hotels we've trained in bed bug prevention protocols — so the inspection is part of how they run, not something you have to do at the door.
Found something — or want to be ready next time?
If your check turned up evidence, document it, switch to a non-adjacent room, and treat your luggage with care on the way home. If you'd rather travel prepared, a few simple items keep hitchhikers out of your bag in the first place.